Pain control is of prime importance to anyone treating many different diseases and medical conditions. Proper pain relief imparts significant physiological and psychological benefits to the patient. Not only does effective pain relief mean a smoother, more pleasant recovery (e.g., mood, sleep, quality of life, etc.) with earlier discharge from medical/surgical/outpatient facilities, but it may also reduce the probability of the acute pain state progressing to a chronic pain syndrome.
Mucositis is the painful inflammation and ulceration of the mucous membranes lining the digestive tract, usually as an adverse effect of chemotherapy and radiotherapy treatment for cancer. Mucositis can occur anywhere along the gastrointestinal (GI) tract, but oral mucositis refers to the particular inflammation and ulceration that occurs in the mouth. Oral mucositis is a common and often debilitating complication of cancer treatment.
Pain associated with oral mucositis can be extremely debilitating and can lead to poor oral food intake. In extreme cases, patients may require feeding tubes if the ulceration continues to advance.
Local anesthetics are agents that prevent transmission of nerve impulses without causing unconsciousness. They act by binding to fast sodium channels from within (in en open state). Local anesthetics can be either ester or amide based.
Bupivacaine hydrochloride is an amide-based local anesthetic and is a well established active ingredient. Bupivacaine has been used for more than 20 years in daily clinical practice as a local anesthetic, for both surgery and postoperative pain treatment. Bupivacaine is also referred to as 1-butyl-N-(2,8-dimethylphenyl)piperidine-2-carboxamide (C16H28N2O).
Currently, there is no efficient treatment to offer patients suffering from pain associated with oral mucositis and other similar conditions. There is thus a great need for effective remedies which may help these patients by increasing their food intake and increase their oral hygiene.
Surprisingly the inventors have found that compositions comprising bupivacaine, or other lipophilic local anesthetics, or a pharmaceutically active salt thereof are very useful in the treatment or alleviation of pain, burning or xerostomia of the oral cavity, pharynx, oral mucosa and pharyngeal mucosa. The compositions are very useful especially for patients suffering from oral mucositis, and may increase food intake and increase oral hygiene.